Note change of index name: From September quarter 2012 the Labour Price Index will be re-titled the Wage Price Index.For more information please refer to Wage Price Index, Changes in This Issue for the September quarter 2012

1. Australia has taken a flexibility option on periodicity on these categories. Data are disseminated quarterly.

2. The reference period is a specific week in the middle month of the quarter.

3. Data for General Government Operations (GGO) are from two different sources with different release dates. Revenue, expenses, net operating balance, net acquisition of non-financial assets and net lending/borrowing are drawn from data compiled on a Government Finance Statistics (GFS) basis covering all levels of government in Australia while the data on financing are drawn from data compiled on a System of National Accounts 1993 (SNA93) basis. The quarterly GFS data are released approximately 2 months after the reference period while the quarterly financing data are released approximately 3 months after the reference period. When the reference period differs between the GFS and the national accounts data, the net errors and omissions in the GGO cannot be derived and will be shown as 'na', meaning it is not applicable.

4. The recognition of taxation revenue in GFS is based on the taxation liability method (TLM) where taxes are recognised the earlier of when an assessment of a tax liability is made, or a cash payment is received. This method is adopted in GFS as it currently provides more certainty in the recording of revenue and less possibility of material mis-statement. This recognition differs from the economic transactions method (ETM) used for the Australian national accounts that records taxation revenue when the associated economic activity has occurred.

5. Includes GFS depreciation for central government which is an accounting measure which does not align well with the Australian national accounts measure of consumption of fixed capital.

6. The Australian national accounts estimate may differ from the GFS estimate due to two issues. Firstly, the Australian national accounts estimate includes a measure of consumption of fixed capital that is an economic measure based on the expected economic life of an asset and current replacement costs, whereas the GFS estimate includes a measure of depreciation that is an accounting measure based on taxation guidelines for allowable depreciation and the original cost of the asset. Secondly, the Australian national accounts estimates include capitalised expenditure for intangible fixed assets which is recorded in the GFS as consumption expenditure.

7. Net lending derived from revenues and expenditures will differ from net lending derived from financing data because of different concepts, sources and methods employed. The net errors and omissions represent the difference between the net lending derived from GFS data and net lending derived from the national accounts data.

8. Financing of the change in net worth includes transactions and other economic flows

9. Net Lending/Borrowing plus Other Economic Flows does not equal the Change in Net Worth because transactions in Non Financial Assets are funded from transactions in Financial Assets and Liabilities

10. With the exception of Treasury Indexed Bonds which are valued at face value plus the capital accretion component.

11. The RBA does not lend to the non-bank private sector and is not permitted to lend to banks, except in exceptional circumstances as lender of last-resort.

12. Reserve money is obtained by summing “Australian notes on issue” and “Exchange Settlement Balances”, from the Reserve Bank’s Statement of Liabilities and Assets.

13. Quarterly data are provided to the IMF by the RBA.

14. Asof September quarter 2009, this data is provided on a BPM6 basis.

15 Official reserve assets data have been adjusted for securities sold under repurchase agreements. Weekly data on the RBA's gross holdings of gold and foreign exchange assets are also published. However, these data are not adjusted for securities sold under repurchase agreements, and do not include the reserve position in the IMF.

16. More detailed International Investment Position data, including gross assets and liabilities, are published in ABS cat. no. 5302.0.

17. Gross external debt as defined in External Debt Statistics: Guide for Compilers and Users. More detail on these data are provided via the External Debt link.

18. Spot rates of the AUD against 13 currencies, the SDR and on a trade-weighted basis are updated daily and can be found in the link provided in the 'Further Information' section.

19. Historical data on 1,3 and 6 month forward margins against the USD are available from the Reserve Bank on request. Enquiries can be directed to International Department on (02) 9551 8457. The margins are the representative buying and selling quotations as determined by the RBA. The margins take the form of basis points which may be added to the spot exchange rate to derive the indicative forward rate.

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